SOLID FUELS. Si 



evaporated. Noury, using a special grate, obtained from the 

 Alsace peats 4 to 5 pounds evaporation (ashes deducted). 



Bunte analyzed the gases produced by the combustion of 

 peat on the hearth of a salt-pan, and found, carbonic acid 13, 

 oxygen 6.4, nitrogen 80.6. 



Karsten says that 2|- pounds of peat are equal to one of 

 coal. In some experiments made, at St. Petersburg a fire- 

 grate of 32 square feet and 696 square feet of boiler heating 

 surface was used. The peat was compact, hand-moulded into 

 4-inch balls, and dried till moisture did not exceed 14 per cent. 

 4.26 pounds of coal were evaporated for I of peat. 



Crookes and Rohrig, in their " Metallurgy," say: "One 

 pound of dry turf will evaporate 6 pounds of water. Now in 

 I pound of turf, as usually found, there are pound of dry 

 turf and J pound of water. The pound can evaporate 4^ 

 pounds of water; but out of this it must first evaporate the J 

 pound of water contained in its mass, and hence the water 

 boiled away by such turf reduces to 4j pounds. The yield 

 is here reduced 30 per cent, a proportion which makes all the 

 difference between a good fuel and one almost unfit for use. 

 When turf is dried in the air under cover it still retains -^ of 

 its weight of water, which reduces its calorific power 12 per 

 cent; I pound of such turf evaporates .5 J- pounds of water." 



COKE. 



Coke usually met with is from three sources: from gas- 

 coal, and made in gas-retorts; from gas or ordinary bituminous 

 coal, and made in special ovens; from petroleum, and made 

 by carrying the distillation of the residuum to a red heat. 



Coke from gas-works is usually softer and more porous 

 than the other kinds, burns more readily, but does not give 

 as intense a heat. It has been used considerably for domestic 

 heating, and in factories where a high heat is not needed 

 but where a smokeless fuel is desirable. The oven coke is 

 usually in large columnar masses of a close texture and quite 



